The instant invention relates to rollers for effecting registration of documents and more particularly to apparatus for registration of documents such as mail envelopes against a registration fence for the purpose of alignment of the envelopes prior to further processing at a downstream location.
The present invention overcomes the problems of the prior art caused by the requirement that mailing machines handle varying thicknesses of envelopes seriatim without damaging those envelopes prior to downstream processing. The prior art does not afford a solution which would allow an envelope processing machine to handle envelopes varying in dimensional parameters and weight ranging from tissue-like air mail envelopes to envelopes weighing two or more ounces without causing some kind of damage to the lighter weight envelopes. There is, for example, a tendency for the air mail envelopes to crumple or collapse when conveyed through the devices of the prior art.
By using a novel combination of rollers described hereinafter which causes positive, but gentle registration of the envelopes while simultaneously providing a strong, forward drive in the longitudinal direction, the aforementioned problems are obviated.